#564 Spa ‘me’ day

I have had the most splurgiest of splurgee splurge sessions today.

I went to the Peninsula Hot Springs.

For anyone that doesn’t know what the Peninsula Hot Springs are, they are a collection of thermal mineral waters that flow into pools and private baths in the Fingal location on the Peninsula, that make it the prime real estate of bathing, and other luxurious treatments such as massages.

I not only bathed today. But I massaged. AND I ate.

It all started with the voucher I received from Hubbie for my birthday… last year. Yep, I am continuing my wait-’til-the-last-possible-second tradition of fulfilling a gift voucher by waiting until the last day possible to use it. And today I used it before its expiry date of tomorrow, so at least I’m being consistent.

Not due to lack of want, NO. I love the Peninsula Hot Springs. I’ve been there once before many many years ago, and now that we are locals and an approximate 30 minute drive away, I’d love to make this as common a luxurious tradition as humanly (and monetarily) possible.

For me it’s always been about the TIME. Finding time to do something for myself, and making sure baby girl is occupied or there is someone to look after her, and simultaneously trying to find ‘me’ time outside of ‘family’ time, because DON’T GET ME STARTED on Mum guilt…

So today I put Hubbie’s voucher to good use. I followed a lovely lady into a hut within the trees occupying this forest oasis, and had an hour-long Peninsula vine massage…

Followed by a lunch in the Bath House café, where I sat unapologetically in my white robe, with only a pair of disposable knickers underneath, true story.

Because nothing says relaxation like not removing your terry white robe to eat a very distinguished lunch menu. Tee hee hee.

And then I had about an hour to spare before kinder pick-up, so I went through the Bath House pools, intimate bathing spaces for those only 16+, and tried out some steaming hot baths, one of which was a mere 40-42 degrees Celsius.

Thin branching leaves and trees enveloped the entire Bath House area, so that it felt like a little private piece of watery heaven.

I had been all on my own, and it had been a day for me. I left feeling clear, fresh, rejuvenated, and seriously, those minerals had really changed me. They had done something to me internally, and I felt lighter for it.

I felt all brand-new. And that is certainly something to be grateful for.

#563 Fanciful wishes

So, you may have realised by now that I live by the water…

…and also, I work by it.

It’s occurred to me a few times now that there is water almost everywhere I go. And the funny thing is, I never really AIMED to live by the water, or work by it. Work location was pure chance, and even when I was a teen, I’d say wishfully that one day, I’d love a beach house. A part of me never really wished for it, because it felt too hard, and too unrealistic.

I thought it may happen if I was loaded and filthy rich after my young-adult series took off, by let’s say the age of 45. And then it would be a holiday house, not a living-in 365-days-of-the-year house.

And instead, by early 30s, not rich by any means, I found myself living by the bay and I didn’t even want it bad for my whole life… only like, 7 months of it before we moved in.

And so this story comes to mind as I stared at these boats near my work today. Because I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a boat, but only like, when the mortgage is paid off, I am comfortable, the children are grown up, my designer wardrobe is complete, and then and only then with the excess money I have left over from several overseas yearly holidays, then and only then would I think, ‘a boat.’

And as I thought this hilarious yet delightful sequence, something triggered, and I went ‘oh dear.’

Be careful what you wish for.

So today, here’s to fanciful wishes coming true, and being surprised by Life.

#562 Dancing in the kitchen with my loves part 6

Tonight the people in my house were all INSANE.

I mean, I know we have just passed what was an eclipse a little while ago, but the planets must still be severely out of alignment or something, because the energy in our house tonight was absolutely, positively

s-c-a-t-t-e-r-e-d.

At one point Hubbie asked me to “give me something.” A.K.A ‘fire me up.’ Since Ricky Martin was currently blasting through the portable speaker, the new song of his clearly wasn’t doing it for Hubbie, so I went back-to-basics-Ricky.

I dare you not to sway/tap your feet/bop along. I turned the volume right up, and then baby girl did something funny – she took her socks off and rolled her pants right up. It was funny because she was copying Hubbie. He is constantly ‘I live at the beach,’ (I know, eye roll) even in Winter, as he is always without socks and with his jeans rolled up.

After I saw her do that… this warmth-loving, comfort-seeking, I-always-have-my-slippers-on-around-the-house glass-half-full gal took the challenge.

Hubbie almost hid under the table when he saw me rip off my socks and start to roll up my jeans.

And then we proceeded to dance around the kitchen, these three highly insane people, with Ricky Martin shaking his booty on the youtube video in the background.

Ricky had his shoes off too for the record. All the best ones do 😉

 

#561 Pruning roses

Hubbie stirs me about the pruning gloves I have. I asked for them one Christmas from my sister – I then got them – and then I proceeded to not use them.

Every time he came across them, or the mention of unnecessary items came up, he would poke fun at the gloves I use soooo often.

;P

Well, today, I actually pruned.

Following from some advice my bestie gave me months ago near the onset of Winter, I scaled back the thorny rose bushes we have bordering the front of our lawn, as much as I could see fit to. I tried to remember what she had said: clip at an angle; chop away what is dead or dying; and cut it right back in the Winter months.

With 4 days of Winter left (!!!) and on a beautifully still and sunny day, I got to it. Baby girl accompanied me, filling her mini watering can repeatedly and emptying it onto the lawn in front of her, while I snip snip snipped away.

It was therapeutic. I loved it. I always had an inkling that I would enjoy gardening, and today I discovered I just wanted to keep going.

I know it’s not much, and it may not look impressive. I did my best. But that there are 3 of the bushes I scaled back. I’m posting it to hold myself accountable, hoping that they will take to my trimmings and bloom, and then I can post it for all to see.

The 1st and last bushes are roses, with the middle one being a puzzling one. We will have to wait and see what comes of number two. But the number one pic is my current pride and joy, with only one Winter rose remaining…

… and here’s hoping Spring will bring me many more.

Here’s to a new hobby, a new love, a new form of therapy…

Pruning 🙂

Oh, and those gardening gloves Hubbie’s always stirring me about? I couldn’t even find them today. I need to unpack some more boxes it seems… but it didn’t stop me from getting to it in the end 😉

#560 Silly games

It was a lazy kind of Sunday – just the day I needed. Chilling with my family…

…And playing too.

I was telling baby girl at one point in the day, how she had the most fantastic bed, and if I were her, I would sleep in it all day, and all night (just an extension of her already good habits, but just wanting to concrete in that sleeping in her own bed/room is THE BOMB).

Well of course after that statement, she of course wanted to tuck me into her bed.

Of course.

I happily complied. It was a cold and rainy day. I snuggled in under the covers, she read to me, put her stuffed lion and elephant toys around me, and I pretended to sleep.

When she left the room, I sprung into action. I got out of her bed, shoved her elephant under the covers in my place, and then hid in her wardrobe opposite the bed. I heard her come in, walk over to the bed, and go “huh?”

I stifled my laughter.

Some shuffling, and then I heard laughter.

Oh God she had found the elephant. I put my hand over my mouth. I was sure she would hear my quietly escaping laughter.

“Mama? Ma! Mama?” she called for me around the room, and then asked the elephant if he knew where I was, and answered for him too – “No.”

Meanwhile I was sniggering two metres away.

She left the room calling to her Dad, telling him Mama was gone, and I jumped out of the wardrobe, back into bed, threw Mister Elephant to the side, and pulled the covers up close around my head.

I closed my eyes as she approached. “Oh! Mama!” she was smiling.

“Hey honey!”

She indicated I had been gone, and the elephant had been in the bed.

“What? I’ve been here the whole time!”

Whose the child here?!?!

I ended with the cheeky question, posing to her that Mama had tricked her – I don’t want to leave the girl with questionable freaky ideas about her mother disappearing and then reappearing suddenly – but it had been good fun, and on a quiet, low-key, rainy Sunday, we had made some fun and silly memories.

I love these games, and I love how she brings out the child in me. Why would you ever want to grow up?

 

#559 Done and Dusted Saturday

People all over the schooling/working world LOVE Saturdays. It is perhaps one of the most celebrated days of the week.

And yet for me, this glass half-full and gratitude gal, I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

And now that it is, I am now, finally grateful.

I worked. It was one of those days. And then stomach cramps and spasms thrown on top of it definitely didn’t help. But for me, my weekend begins sometime tomorrow, and after a good long sleep in, I know I will feel better.

Sometimes we just need to go to bed, and start again. So I am grateful for that. The end today, means a new beginning tomorrow…

#558 Giving a much needed hug

Today I came through on the promise I made days ago.

Today I travelled across to the other side of town, and attended the funeral of one of my closest friend’s Mum.

I gave her a huge hug, we cried, and I told her we were there for her.

And in amongst this grim day, I had done my bit. I had done what I had wanted to do for so long, and I hope my presence did something for her… not necessarily to lessen her pain – nothing can do that – but to show her that she has people around her who care.

I was grateful I had come through for her.

#557 What she said

Sleep-coma was threatening to win me over at any moment.

I was so tired as I struggled to fight the fog, reading baby girl a book in the dark of her room, against her dim Skye lamp.

But soon it was done. She wanted some face tapping, which I promptly followed with, and then she was going to do it on me, so I closed my eyes and settled in for some random and non-parallel taps from her gentle fingers all over my face.

She ended by kissing me on the forehead, just as I always do for her.

I quickly tucked her in, getting comfortable sitting on the toy box beside her as I did every night, waiting for her to fall asleep. Then –

*lip-smacking sounds!*

She wanted another kiss. I leaned in quickly – do not fight the requests, it only delays everything that much more – and we gave each other kisses. To which she then said,

“Mama best friend.”

Awww.

“You’re my best friend too,” I whispered to her giving her another kiss.

“Yeah best friend, in whole world!”

Awww. I mean, that there. I’m done.

Tick tick tick. I’ll remember that moment, these memories, and this age, forever and ever and ever.

♥♥♥

#556 The basketball hoop

I was feeling lowly and flat at times today, and not because I was back at work. It was more my own bodily cycles, seasonal symptoms, as well as the fact that I slept 5 hours last night, with my body screaming “why aren’t I sleeping ’til 9?!” when the alarm got me up at 5am.

Hubbie went to Kmart with baby girl and got her this:

(Who are we kidding, he got himself that).

He set it up for her and they went wild slam-dunking all over the place. Slam-dunking over the door, slam-dunking over a shelf, even slam-dunking over a chair so that it was more ‘slam-dunk accessible’ to baby girl.

I stood there in the kitchen washing the after-dinner dishes, smiling at them as they ran amuck. No one has ever been so happy to get air balls as baby girl was.

And although they say it’s not ideal to search outwards for your own fulfilment of happiness, I have to say on this day, I absorbed some of their youthful exuberance and playfulness, turning my grey day into a much sunnier one.

That’s what loved ones are for, right? Sometimes you just need a helping hand.

#555 Mindful swinging at the park

Baby girl has just learnt how to swing on her own. Today was the second time she had the opportunity to practice it as we headed on over to the local park.

We had just had a babycino and cap, and a salted caramel ‘something’ to share at the nearby café, so we were properly fuelled. As we got closer to the park, I let go of her hand and said “go, run. Be free. Frolic. Be 4.”

Soon she was headed over to the swing, the place of her new-found confidence and extension of never-ending playfulness. She wanted me to give her a big push to get started, and then said “let go Mama.”

(Oh darling. I will never let go).

But then as life would have it, as our children grow up, she wanted me beside her. ( 🙂 ) She motioned to the swing beside her and told me to “sit.”

Soon we were both swinging, sometimes going back and forth simultaneously, other times in opposite directions. It was a still day, the sun sometimes coming out from behind the prevalent clouds of the day. We were silent for the longest time, going back and forth at our varying paces, and my mind wandered over to something I had read the other day.

Mindfulness. What was the quote?

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”  – Bil Keane.

The article had mentioned 7 habits to cultivating a happier life. And one of the points that had captivated me had been the act of living in the present. Not worrying about what had passed, and not stressing about what may, or may not come… but concerning oneself solely, with the NOW.

The technique mentioned was to be aware of your palms and feet, and clenching both while becoming aware of your surroundings. It said to try and concentrate on where you were, and if your mind naturally wandered, to not judge yourself too harshly, but to simply gently steer your attention back to where it needed to be.

So that’s what I did. As we swung back and forth, in the quiet of the local park, I clenched the hands that were around the swing chain, and tensed my feet below me that were swinging back and forth in my white sneakers. I observed my body in the almost-too tight swing seat, breathed in the fresh air, felt the warmth on my face, and tried to think of NOW.

A young teenager was nearby, walking home from school in their uniform, and the image before me made my mind go elsewhere. Suddenly baby girl was also a teen, and there were a multitude of concerning issues flooding my mind. How would I help her with her problems? Would she ask for help? Would she be happy? Would she like school? Would she like her Life?

I suddenly realised my scattered thoughts, and ever so gently removed myself from them, taking myself back to the present.

The beautiful present. Of me and baby girl, swinging at the park, with no concerning cares in the world.

🙂